Sins of the Fathers
by brontefanatic
Summary: Zedd once promised Panis Rahl that he would raise and train Darken in the ways of magic, yet he went on to become Darken's enemy. But if Zedd had been a part of Darken's life, perhaps prophecy could have been averted. AU based on the episode "Vengeance"
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **In the episode "Vengeance" we are shown flashbacks to a time just after Darken's birth when Panis and Zedd are close friends. We also learn that Zedd played a crucial role in Darken's birth. At Panis's request, Zedd agrees to stay at the People's Palace and teach Darken the ways of magic. Of couse, in show!canon Shota's prophecy about Darken Rahl and Zedd's father's concern about that prophecy intervene in a way that leads Zedd to choose another path.

But - What if events had played out differently? What if Zedd had been part of Darken's upbringing, had been his teacher? Could the prophecy have been averted?

This is just my take on what might have happened in those circumstance.

Standard disclaimer: I own nothing and write for no profit other than my own enjoyment. All of my stories are based on show!canon and not book!canon.

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

"My beloved subjects, I present to you Darken Rahl – future Lord of D'Hara." Lord Panis Rahl's smile was lit by both pride and triumph as he lifted the squalling infant over his head , displaying the proof of his virility to the cheering throngs below.

This birth of this child would put to rest the mutterings that had humiliated him for years – the galling rumors that despite bedding countless women, the golden-haired ruler of D'Hara was incapable of fathering an heir.

For ten years Panis had longed for a son, and now the miracle had occurred.

And indeed, Darken's birth _had_ been a miracle, a mystery shared only with his closest friend, confidant and resident Wizard of the First Order – Zeddicus Z'ul Zorander.

Cradling the tiny bundle against his chest, Panis turned and swept back into the palace, grateful to escape the raucous din of the celebrating mob. Upon gaining the relative silence of his antechamber, the young ruler eagerly handed Darken over to the matronly nursemaid and gestured for Zedd to join him in admiring the boy.

"He's perfect, isn't he, Zedd? Everything a father could hope for in a son." Panis beamed in satisfaction. Gazing over at his friend, the king's expression grew thoughtful. "I can never repay you for what you have done for me, Zedd, what you have done for D'Hara."

When Zedd didn't respond, Lord Rahl murmured with pensive sorrow. "I'm sure my dear queen would have felt the same, if only she were still with us."

Queen Joanna, the woman who had carried the magically conceived child to term had died in childbirth after three agonizing days of labor. A gentle young woman of few opinions, at least few she had the temerity to express openly, Joanna had once shyly confided to Zedd that if she were blessed with a son, she wanted him to be named Richard, after a beloved older brother who had died as a child. But Panis had dismissed the idea with a snort of derision. Richard, he had declared, was a much too ordinary name for a child who was destined to be extraordinary in every way.

For some obscure reason known only to himself, Panis had named the child Darken. While Zedd was not a superstitious man, he was troubled by the choice, which only seemed to reflect the gathering shadow of unrest and war creeping over the land.

Zedd nodded his head in earnest agreement at his friend's assurance of Joanna's eternal gratitude, but wished Panis would change the subject. The wizard, while sharing in Panis's joy, couldn't suppress a slight twinge of discomfort at the mention of Joanna's name.

From the very day Panis had announced that he and his consort were expecting an heir, Joanna had taken to her bed with nausea, cramps and crippling fatigue.

Of course, she had been a fragile little thing. Carrying any child to term would have been difficult for her.

But this had hardly been a normal pregnancy, and Zedd sometimes wondered if the queen had ever suspected that the new life growing inside her womb was the result of powerful magic.

Since the birth, he had questioned a time or two whether the spell performed out of generosity for a friend might have been the death of her.

But the wizard refused to let himself to dwell on such unpleasant matters. This was a day for rejoicing.

"He has your eyes, my Lord," Zedd remarked, leaning over the infant, hoping that his own pride was not too evident .

At that moment Darken opened his eyes and stared directly into Zedd's own with such scrutiny, alertness, with such an unspoken plea, that the wizard was almost knocked back on his heels.

Surely it must have been his imagination, or else he had been imbibing too much celebratory wine. Although the child **was **a Rahl; who could know how much power lay behind that gaze?

Straightening himself up to his full height, Zedd was acutely aware that his friend's attention was fixed upon him. Panis seemed to be searching for the right words. Finally, with a dramatic flourish, the king gathered Darken up in his arms once more, and presented the child to Zedd.

"Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander", Panis Rahl intoned solemnly, "for years you have been my loyal friend. You have done more for me than any man has a right to ask." The young man's eyes burned bright with unshed tears – and ambition. "But I have one more favor to ask of you. Would you do me the great service of teaching my son the ways of magic just as your father taught me? Remain with him, not only as his instructor, but as a second father?

"Would you help me raise my son to be the great leader I know he can be?" With these words Panis gently placed the infant in Zedd's arms.

Carefully accepting the burden, Zedd tried to swallow past the boulder that seemed to have lodged in his throat. His mouth felt like cotton.

Panis Rahl had already proclaimed Zedd a Wizard of the First Order, and now he offered his friend even more bounty.

A world of wealth and luxury, filled with beautiful compliant women.

A world of learning, with every ancient scroll of magic and history housed in the great library of the People's Palace at his fingertips.

A world of power and influence as advisor and First Wizard to the current ruler of D'Hara, and as the man who would shape the future Lord Rahl.

When the time came for Darken Rahl to ascend the throne of D'Hara, Zedd's influence and power would only increase accordingly.

He had only a few seconds of relishing the vision of his glorious future before he sensed the palpable anger of the physically absent but omnipresent Carracticus Zorander crackling in the air around him.

Carracticus, Zedd's own father, the wizard who had once instructed Panis Rahl in the ways of magic before abruptly leaving the Court without explanation, had been trying to wean Zedd away from the king's side for the past year. Zedd's choice to stay at the palace had estranged him from the man who had taught him everything he knew. If he accepted the offer now put before him, Zedd knew his father would never forgive him.

But looking deep into the blue eyes of the boy still cradled awkwardly in his arms, Zedd knew he couldn't refuse. He had brought this child into the world at a terrible cost, and he now had a responsibility for Darken Rahl that went beyond personal ambition.

"I would be honored," he said quietly. There was no going back now, he could only go forward, into the future that beckoned him with limitless possibilities.

"Good! It's settled." Panis had relaxed back into easy geniality, patting Zedd on the back and motioning the nurse over to retrieve Darken. "If there is anything more I can do for you, anything at all, my friend, you have only to name it."

"There is one thing I would request, my Lord." If he was going to be a second father to his friend's child, Zedd was determined to become a better parent to his own. "I have a twelve-year old daughter, Taralynn. She has always lived with her mother, but now I would like to be able to have her with me, to let her share in my good fortune."

"A daughter, eh?" Panis winked at him, all good humor and male camaraderie. "Of course she can join you. I want to do everything in my power to make you content.

"Come now – give the child back to his nurse, my friend. It's time to celebrate and Princess Arianna is already pining for your attentions."

Although curiously reluctant to relinquish the child, Zedd brightened with anticipation of an evening of wine, laughter and Princess Arianna.

**oOoOoO**

"You can't do this, Zeddicus." The old wizard's voice was harsh with disapproval. The two men had been arguing for what seemed like hours.

After several months away from the family home, Zedd had returned to gather up a few of his old books. He could have slipped in and out while Carracticus was absent, but hadn't wanted to act the coward. At the very least, Zedd owed his father the respect of a personal explanation, no matter how painful it was to endure the cantankerous old man's hectoring.

"Panis Rahl is a liar and a deceiver. Now that he can't employ me to further his ends, he's duped you into believing that he's your friend." Carracticus called over his shoulder as he padded back into his cramped little kitchen to fetch the seasoning for his evening meal.

Zedd struggled to control his temper at this slur of his character, though it stung his pride. Did his father have so little trust in his son's intelligence – his judgment? Or perhaps he was jealous of Zedd's rapidly growing abilities.

Perhaps the father feared being outshone by the son.

"Rahl only wants to use you as a means to gain even more power. Why do you think I refused to continue his instruction?" Carracticus continued his rant, returning to the table with his favorite herbs and proceeding to sprinkle them into his soup. As furious as the old man always seemed to be with Zedd recently, his anger never affected his appetite.

"I don't know, father." Zedd had always been puzzled by Carracticus's sudden antipathy toward Lord Rahl. "Even if what you say is true, shouldn't we be teaching Panis how to control the power that is his heritage, rather than leaving him to his own devices? That's all I'm trying to do."

"In addition to consorting with whores and degenerates," the old man snorted in disdain, slurping his soup. "Don't think to bamboozle me with talk about your noble motives. The Rahl bloodline has produced generation after generation of tyrants and Panis is no different. Neither is his son."

Those last few words sent a jolt up Zedd's spine. Darken was only three weeks old, and he still remembered the sense of connection he had felt toward the boy when he had held him. "Panis relies on me, father. He has entrusted his son to me. I can teach both father and son to use their magic wisely and justly."

"A waste of time," Carracticus snarled, picking up his empty bowl and trudging back to the kitchen. "You have no idea of the consequences of what you are doing." The older man's face was becoming so flushed that Zedd dreaded that one of his father's attacks was coming on. Carracticus had been plagued with chest pain and weakness for over a year, but had obstinately resisted his sons' entreaties to seek out a healer.

Just then the old man's legs gave out from under him and Zedd rushed over to help him into the nearest chair, only to be waved away with an impatient grimace as the elder wizard steadied himself against the table, all the while arguing his case. "Zeddicus, stay here where you belong. Change your mind before it's too late."

Zedd was distressed by his father's refusal to sea reason, by his determination to believe the worst, but he could be just as stubborn. "I'm sorry, father, but my place now is with Darken Rahl. I made a promise to Panis, and I won't break my word." He strode over to the door, weary of the strife and anxious now to be on his way.

His eyes hardening to stone, Carracticus glared at his son. "Then you're a fool, Zeddicus. Worse than a fool, so seduced by all the empty pleasures that Panis Rahl is offering that you will bring about unthinkable destruction."

Zedd had heard enough. It was time to leave before they both said things they would later regret, but Carracticus forestalled him before he could reach the door, clutching Zedd's arm and pulling the younger man into a rough embrace. His beard scratching against his son's cheek, the elder wizard hissed, "Panis may have charmed you into believing his lies, but I know exactly what he is, and **I** will do whatever it takes to put an end to the tyranny of the House of Rahl."

The air in the room seemed to grow heavier.

"What do you mean – whatever it takes?" Zedd knew his father hated Panis, but had never before heard him make an outright threat.

"The witch-woman, Shota, has come to me with a prophecy." Carracticus whispered, as if afraid that Panis might have spies lurking in the corners of the room.

Zedd started at the name. He and Shota shared a long and tangled history, sometimes reluctant allies, at other times antagonists, and, occasionally, lovers.

"Shota has received prophecies before, Father, and not all have come to pass, nor have they always unfolded in the manner she predicted."

Carractacus continued on as if his son hadn't spoken, completely enveloped in his own dark visions. "Shota has seen the future of your young prince, Zeddicus, and it would have been better for us all had he never drawn breath.

"Darken Rahl, if he lives, will become the most monstrous tyrant the world has even known."

A blast of cold wind swept through the room, despite the sunlit summer warmth outside the walls of the cottage.

Zedd stared into his father's eyes, momentarily at a loss for words, appalled at the fanaticism he saw there. Then he twisted away from the old man's grip.

"Darken Rahl is an infant! Do you really believe that his future is set in granite? Even the greatest wizards are not infallible, and Shota's ability to see into the future has failed her in times past. Don't be blinded by your hatred."

"And don't blinded by your own lust and pride," Carracticus snapped, but his son was already walking down the path, his back set rigidly against his father's parting words.

**oOoOo**

Within two **weeks** after Zedd's return to the palace, the prince fell ill with a mysterious fever that baffled the healers. Darken screamed unceasingly for days while Panis stood by grimly, and Zedd searched frantically for the precise healing spell, all the while seething at his helplessness in the face of what he knew to be the work of dark magic. He knew of only one person who possessed both the power and the stated intent to harm Darken Rahl, but couldn't bear to admit to himself that his father would deliberately inflict a child with such a deadly malady.

Finally, after endless hours of scouring the palace libraries and consulting his own scrolls and notes, Zedd found the arcane curse that had been used to sicken the child. With knowledge of the curse came knowledge of how to lift it, and within hours the fever had lifted as swiftly and silently as it had arrived, leaving Darken too weak to move, but alive.

"Tell me, Zeddicus, how is it that, out of my entire household, only my infant son was stricken with this illness? Doesn't that seem strange to you?" Panis asked, his attention carefully focused on the pale child lying in the crib.

Zedd dare not utter his deepest qualms to his friend, but was tormented by the thought that his own father might have been responsible. Yet he couldn't be sure until he confronted the man himself, and would say nothing that might endanger his father's life.

"The very young and the very old often fall prey to sudden fevers, my lord. Sometimes there is no explanation." Zedd said, trying both to comfort his friend and to put a stop to any suspicions before they could take root.

**oOoOo**

"Yes. I sent the fever to infect the child." Carracticus faced his older son without apology as Thaddicus looked on, ineffectual as always in the overpowering presence of his father and brother.

"How could you do this? Darken Rahl is helpless, a baby. How can you presume to know what he'll become, or what he may or may not do in the future?"

"You should have let nature take its course, Zeddicus. It would have been kinder – for the child and for the rest of the world," Carracticus said coldly. "Now **you **will have to finish the task."

"You can't be serious!" Zedd couldn't believe that his father would ask this of him, but Carracticus was inexorable.

"You have to kill Darken Rahl. It will be easy. Just return to the palace and take up your normal duties. You're around him every day. He's still weak from the fever – susceptible." The old wizard's eyes gleamed with single-minded fervor. "The life of one child is insignificant compared to the welfare of the world."

"It's cold-blooded murder." Zedd couldn't understand his father's transformation from wise teacher to fanatic. "What you are telling me to do goes against everything you once taught me. You've become the slave to a wild prophecy, and I'll have no part in it."

"Then I'll do it myself if you're too selfish to think beyond your own personal pleasure." Carracticus was panting, his face reddening as he trod toward the chamber that held his potions. "I don't care what happens to me. Darken Rahl must be destroyed. " The old man started to wheeze as he struggled to pull on his cloak.

"You're not going anywhere." Zedd 's anger turned to concern as his father suddenly staggered into the wall, slipping down to the floor. Both brothers rushed to his side, catching the elderly wizard before his head collided with the flagstones.

"Look what you've done!" Thaddicus accused shrilly. Zedd didn't bother to reply as he carried his father to his cot and settled the covers over the frail body. The old man slapped feebly at his son's hands, gasping for breath, then grabbed at his own chest, doubling over in pain.

"He's dying. What are we going to do?" Thaddicus wailed in helpless despair. Zedd wanted to throttle him.

"Go fetch the healer – and hurry." Zedd ordered. He feared that it was already too late for the healer to be of any assistance, but Thaddicus' panic was contagious, and his father needed calm.

After his brother had scrambled out the door, Zedd knelt by Carracticus, trying to ease him as best he could. As he gently settled a pillow under his fathers grizzled head, the old wizard, using his last ounce of strength in the effort, opened his eyes and glared back at him. "Will you do it?" he gasped. "Will you kill Darken Rahl before it's too late?"

Even in his last seconds of life, the only thing his father could think on was murdering a child.

"No, father, I won't," Zedd answered sadly, unable to lie, but wishing he could. "I can't."

"Then you're no son of mine," Carracticus Zorander spat with his dying breath.

**oOoOo**

Panis Rahl greeted Zedd with grave courtesy when the bereft man returned to the Peoples Palace, escorting him personally to his new apartments after waving away the guards.

"I'm sorry for your loss. Carracticus was a great man." Lord Rahl's mouth turned down in an expression of feigned sorrow, but the grief did not reach his eyes, which were strangely cold and watchful.

"How is your son, my Lord?" Zedd didn't want to discuss his father. Thaddicus had made it abundantly clear that Zedd would never be welcome in their home again. His only family now was a twelve-year old girl he barely knew, and an infant who might possibly be the doom of the world.

"Improving every day I'm pleased to say," Panis answered, although his eyes still did not reflect the joy that one would expect of a father whose beloved son had recently escaped death. He had started striding back and forth across the room. "I'm disturbed by these strange rumors I have been hearing about my son's destiny. "

Zedd was careful to keep his expression neutral. He felt as if he were balancing on the edge of a cliff.

Panis stopped his restless pacing and turned toward his companion, face flushed with anger. "Did Carracticus inform you of the prophecy that is now spreading throughout D'Hara, the prophecy that my son will become more powerful than I will ever be, the prophecy that Darken Rahl will become the greatest monster in the history of the world?"

The glowing fire in the hearth did nothing to dispel the chill the young king's words brought into the room.

Zedd knew it would be foolish to feign ignorance. "Yes, my friend, my father told me about the prophecy," he said wearily. He reached out a comforting hand toward Panis, only to have the gesture pointedly ignored.

"I've been informed that your father and the witch, Shota, were the source of this treasonous prophecy." Panis snarled, eyes narrowed as he glared at Zedd. "I know how much you looked up to the old man. How can I trust you around my son?"

"My Lord…Panis…my friend, I held your son in my own arms and promised to protect him. I saved his life in defiance of my father's wishes." There was no point now in hiding the fact that Caractacus had infected Darken with the fever, but surely Zedd's efforts on the child's behalf would allay the king's concerns. "I came back to fulfill my promise to you and to your son. I will prove the prophecy wrong. Darken Rahl will be the greatest ruler D'Hara has ever known."

Panis Rahl's expression clouded as Zedd realized he had just declared that Darken would be a greater ruler than his father. "Second only to his father before him, of course," he added diplomatically, trying to appease his friend's sensitive pride.

"Well spoken, my friend." Panis's smile finally spread to his eyes, and the tension between the two men dissipated. "We'll talk no more about it. You will join me tonight at dinner and together we will make plans for your daughter to join you in her new home."

**oOoOo**

Erilyn watched the retreating backs of her daughter and her one-time lover as they rode away into their new lives. She would miss Taralynn, but at twelve years of age, the girl was already a handful, and her beauty was starting to turn men's eyes.

Not that she was petty enough to be jealous of her own child.

Besides, Jeffery, the local squire had made it very clear that although he found Erilyn much to his liking, he had not the slightest interest in playing father to the girl. He hadn't yet proposed marriage, but with Taralynn out of the way, he just might.

While it was true that Taralynn barely knew her father, Erilyn assured herself that her daughter would have a much better life with him than she would if she remained in this backwater village.

Her daughter would soon possess all the fripperies and baubles her heart desired. She could even be educated if her father was still so bent on that folly. He had urged Erilyn to see to the girl's learning, and had certainly provided the funds. But Erilyn herself could barely read or write and had seen little need for her daughter to learn those skills.

It was regrettable that the girl was not Gifted. If that had been the case, Erilyn suspected that Zedd would have taken her under his wing years ago. She suppressed the surge of bitterness that rose in her throat at the memory of his disappointment when she had given birth to a daughter instead of a son, and, even worse, a daughter without magic.

At least he was starting to take an interest in his child, and better late than never.

Taralynn had always been a quick study in how to make the most of her appearance, and possessed a shrewd intelligence of her own. She had no need of the tedious writings of old men to show her the way to advancement.

In a few years, her daughter would be the wife of a great lord, a person of importance, in a position to provide her mother with every material advantage. The future was looking very rosy for Erilyn as she tried on her newest dress. Jeffrey liked her in blue. He said it matched her eyes, and she always strived to please.

**oOoOo**

"Is this where we're going to live, father?" Taralynn squealed in delight, running through the connecting chambers of the lavish apartments Lord Rahl had granted them. "It's like a palace inside a palace."

"Yes, dear one. This is our home. Do you approve?" He smiled down at her from his great height, enjoying her excitement. She was a pretty little thing - all shining brown hair, liquid doe eyes and long skinny legs.

Zedd had been somewhat startled at the ease with which Erilyn had relinquished Taralynn over to his care. He had worried that she would insist on accompanying them, and was grateful that she had accepted the increase in her allowance without assaulting him with her usual list of grievances.

Erilyn had been the romance of a summer, nothing more, a pallid substitute for the lightning attraction that he had once shared with Shota. There had been no challenge in the sexual conquest. Zedd had been bored, Erilyn had signaled her willingness, and he had been careless during their moonlight encounters.

He had never promised her marriage or fidelity, and hadn't bothered to hide his dismay when she had announced she was with child. Still, once he had accepted the inevitable, Zedd had seen to her care, and when the child had arrived, had provided for them both. As his worldly status improved, so had theirs.

Zedd still felt quite awkward around Taralynn. After a few minutes of coddling and telling her how pretty she was, there seemed to be nothing left to say.

The girl's lack of formal education was an embarrassment, a poor reflection on his own intelligence and learning. It was a deficiency Zedd would take pains to correct once he had settled her into their new life.

Panis Rahl had charmed Taralynn from the moment she first dipped into her rehearsed curtsy, and she was unabashed in her admiration of the young king. Despite her father's instructions on how to comport herself with royalty, Taralynn flirted girlishly with his friend, alternately blushing and stammering in confusion, then gushing about the wonders surrounding her. As jaded as he was with women, Panis basked like a lazy cat in the sun of her adoration.

"He has golden hair, Father, just like the princes in the stories mother used to tell me," she babbled, tearing through all the silks, satins and finery that Panis had ordered to be delivered to her rooms. There had been a puppy awaiting her arrival, a small terrier she had immediately titled Rahlsie, much to Zedd's annoyance and Lord Rahl's amusement.

"I have golden hair, too, darling." Zedd retorted, hurt that his daughter didn't think he was the most handsome man in the world. Weren't daughters supposed to idolize their fathers?

"Don't be silly, you're not a king. It's different." Seeing the woebegone expression on his face, she ran across the room, flinging herself into his arms. "Thank you for bringing me here, Father. We're going to be so happy and spend so much time together, aren't we?"

"Of course we are, dear one," Zedd promised, planting a kiss on the crown of her head. "I'm going to make up for all the years I wasn't with you."

It was the least he could do.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: Six years later**

"If you're not in this room within the next five minutes, there will be the Keeper to pay!" Zedd shouted in his best magic-teacher voice, striding into the study for at least the sixth time, looking for his errant student.

He had been waiting for Darken's arrival for more than an hour. When the boy failed to show his face at the appointed time for his lessons, Zedd had waited for the negotiated ten minutes, and then had begun scouring Darken's favorite hiding places without much hope of success. The prince was constantly discovering back passageways and staircases of which Zedd was ignorant, not to mention the fact that Darken was so small he could squirm into crannies the wizard could never hope to reach.

But Darken usually saved his antics for occasions when he was free to roam, not for times reserved for instruction. He loved learning, avidly devouring every scrap of knowledge that Zedd fed him.

At the age of six, Darken was still learning only the most rudimentary basics of magic, the simplest spells tempered by the importance of using wisdom and caution. The boy's han was not the most powerful Zedd had ever encountered, but Darken's Gift was stronger than his father's, a fact that galled Panis daily.

Darken was a serious child, albeit sometimes moody, but not above the occasional prank, such as tying the ends of Zedd's robes to the table leg while the wizard was deep in meditation only to dissolve into laughter at the sight of the wizard tangling himself up in his own clothes when he tried to stand up, or replacing Zedd's favorite seasonings with hot pepper and looking on straight-faced while his teacher poured copious amounts into his favorite stew, or, most infuriating of all, slipping into Zedd's chambers during the day and short-sheeting the bed linens.

Constantly aware of the prophecy hanging over Darken's head, Zedd had done his best to instill a sense of compassion, justice and humility in the boy, and the child had seemed to take the lessons to heart.

"**BOO!" **

Zedd yelped, jumping back as a blue-eyed stare accosted him out of nowhere, popping into his line of vision as if dropped from the sky. Darken's upside-down countenance smirked back at him.

"What the - ! " Zedd roared. He hated being taken by surprise.

Darken had smeared charcoal all over his face, and black smudges covered his D'Haran red tunic and leggings where he had wiped his hands. The boy's dark brown hair stuck out in wild spikes that looked as if they had been clumped together with jam.

"I'm a screeling, and you're dead!" the boy shouted with glee, nimbly sliding down from the rafters. "I scared you, didn't I?"

Zedd struggled between impatience and laughter. He had been so wrapped up in his work , so absorbed in his brooding, that he had forgotten it was Keeper's Day.

**Still** -

"How do you know about screelings, Darken?" With any other child this might not be a pressing concern, but Darken Rahl was not any other boy.

Darken looked up at him as if Zedd had taken leave of his senses. "You told me, Zedd. Don't you remember? You spent one whole day talking about them when I wanted to go outside and play."

So he had. The wizard sighed in relief, although he noted with a chuckle that the mats of jam must have been Darken's own creative idea of screeling adornment.

"What's all this about?" Someone else had entered the study.

Even if Zedd hadn't recognized Panis's clipped disapproving voice, he would have known the new arrival by the way Darken seemed to shrink inside his own skin. The happy excited boy of a moment ago disappeared as the prince made a futile attempt to wipe the charcoal off his face and clothes. Grabbing a handful of Zedd's robes, Darken rubbed them across his face and through his gooey hair in a futile attempt to erase his transgression.

"It's Keeper's Day, father, and I wanted to – "

The child's explanation was cut short by an icy blast of displeasure.

"Be quiet and return to your chambers. Clean yourself up so that you'll be presentable at dinner. You're too old to be acting like a baby." Panis glowered over at his son and the boy leapt to obey, scurrying out of the room as fast as his legs could carry him.

The king turned to his wizard, scowl still in place. "Zedd, I've told you that my son is to be kept on a short leash. I won't have him wasting his time with frivolity. He must learn how to rule."

"It is Keeper's Day, Lord Rahl." Zedd rarely called Panis by his given name any longer. "I saw no harm in allowing the boy to celebrate the holiday." The wizard was not about to admit his own surprise at Darken's caper. Shielding Darken from Panis's censure had become almost second nature to Zedd by now.

"I would think you, of all people, would prohibit my son from celebrating a holiday given over to the Keeper," Panis admonished. The ruler of D'Hara was still a handsome man, although, unlike Zedd who had become leaner over the past five years, Panis had begun growing soft around the middle, the price paid for over- indulgence. His hair, though, was as golden as always, and he still cut a fine figure with the wives and daughters of his retainers.

"All children celebrate the day, my Lord. Darken meant no harm," Zedd said calmly, hoping to appease the king before he worked himself into a lather.

"How can we be certain of that, Zedd? I haven't forgotten the prophecy, even if you have. The boy needs to be watched at all times." Panis retorted sharply, his eyes narrowed to slits as he peered up into the rafters where Darken had been hiding only moments before. "What was he doing up there anyway? You're far too lenient with him."

Over the years, Lord Rahl had grown increasingly concerned with Shota's warning about his son, until it had reached the point where he saw dark implications in everything Darken said or did.

The sad truth was that Panis Rahl's early pride and happiness in his son had begun to wither as soon as the child had recovered from the fever that come nigh to killing him shortly after his birth.

Upon Zedd's return to the palace after his own father's death, he had started to notice a troubling change in Lord Rahl's feelings toward Darken. The king rarely visited the nursery, and on those few occasions when he did ask to see his son, Panis kept aloof, rarely holding or touching the child.

By the time Darken was taking his first steps, , his father had begun to fret about the prophecy, as jealous about the child's potential for power as he was with the possibility of his son becoming a murderous tyrant.

The son could not be permitted to outshine the father.

And thus had begun Panis's steady war of attrition against Darken, combat waged against a foe still too young to fight back, or even to understand what was at stake.

Darken could do nothing that pleased his father.

When the boy excelled at his studies, he was too bookish; If he was less than perfect at his lessons, he was either lazy or an idiot; if he stumbled over the words of an incantation, he was incompetent; If he said the words perfectly he was prideful over a trifle that any child could accomplish; if Darken cried when he fell and hurt himself, then he was too weak and unfit to rule; if he remained stoic, he must be harboring dark schemes; if he accidently broke something, he was a clumsy fool, and if he pulled a childish prank, then he was headed down the path of unspeakable evil.

The child was caught in an elegant trap from which there was no escape.

Why couldn't Panis understand that his treatment of the boy might one day twist Darken's nature into becoming the very evil that he feared?

Why couldn't Panis Rahl see what Zedd had seen all too clearly a few months earlier?

It had happened on Darken's sixth birthday. A well-meaning soul had presented the prince with a black and white kitten. The boy had been thrilled, and his eyes had lit up with joy when he showed the little scrap of fur to his father. Panis had reacted with cool aplomb, without raising his voice or losing his benevolent smile, he quietly hurled daggers into his son's heart.

"A kitten. What a perfect gift for a little girl, Darken," he had drawled. "If you want to keep it, then I suppose I'll have to begin calling you daughter instead of son. What name would you prefer? Darlene, Doris?"

All of the birthday guests had slunk down in their chairs, clearly wishing themselves anywhere else, while Zedd could only hope that the unfortunate who had brought the animal had managed to escape the palace alive.

At first, uncomprehending, Darken had looked at his father in confusion. "I want to keep her, father. What do **you **want me to do?"

Panis replied without hesitation," If you want to please me, if you want to show me you're a man, you'll break its neck – now."

The hall became so quiet Zedd thought he could have heard a pin drop as he seethed inwardly at the man he had once called friend. He felt he should do something, intervene in some way, but sat frozen in his chair, cursing himself for a coward.

Darken, great tears rolling down his face, stubbornly clung to the small animal. "I won't hurt her, father. I'm not a man yet. I'm only six."

Panis continued his verbal barrage, his soft words completely without inflection . "That's right, cry, just like you always do. Leave us, Darken. Run up to your room and put on your prettiest dress. You've shamed me enough for one evening. Get out of my sight."

Darken had flown out of the room, red-faced and sobbing, while the guests tried to carry on as if nothing had gone awry.

At the earliest opportunity, Zedd had slipped away from the ruins of the celebration, making his way to Darken's chambers. There he found the boy curled against the casement, staring out into the night, the kitten tucked up under his chin.

"Why doesn't Father like me, Zedd" Darken had asked, rubbing his cheek against the purring bundle, as soon as the wizard had entered the room. "I want him to be proud of me, but I can't do anything right."

"Your father loves you, Darken. He just wants to – ," Zedd began, the words sticking in his throat, but the prince would have none of it.

"Don't lie!" Darken shouted, angrily interrupting the wizard's attempt at comfort, his young features hardening into an expression Zedd had never seen before. "Someday I'm going to be bigger and stronger than Father, and I'll have more magic, too. **Then** Father will be sorry that he ever made me mad." Darken's eyes had taken on a glassy sheen that chilled Zedd to the bone. The face turned towards Zedd was that of a stranger, not the amiable boy the wizard had always known.

Within seconds, the Darken that Zedd had always known had returned, re-animating those staring eyes as the boy threw his arms around Zedd's shoulders, clinging to him for dear life. "I'm afraid, Zedd. Help me. I didn't mean it."

Holding Darken tightly against his chest, Zedd felt as if a giant hand were squeezing the breath out of his lungs as the words of the prophecy echoed in his mind – a silent accusation.

_Darken Rahl, if he lives, will become the most monstrous tyrant the world has even known._

Was the boy's true nature finally starting to emerge?

**No! **

Zedd had refused to believe it in the past, and he wouldn't believe it now. There was too much good in the boy to give up hope. Lord Rahl's vicious goading would have spurred even a Sister of the Light to anger.

But on that night Zedd realized with heart-sinking certainty that Panis's unending campaign of humiliation against his son had to be stopped, or else all would end in disaster. Ten or twelve years hence, Darken Rahl, hating his father as much as his father did him, could indeed become what Panis - and Zedd - most feared.

But how in the Creator's name could he halt what had been set into motion?

"By the way, Zedd, where is that infernal cat my son is always lugging about? It's Keeper's Day, you know. It's not safe for a feline to be wandering around. It might get hurt."

The king's cold voice dragged Zedd back to the present.

He and Lord Rahl faced each other in the study as Panis continued, an odd crooked grimace creasing his attractive face. "You should know by now that my son should never be trusted with small animals."

Then the ruler of D'Hara turned on his heel and left the room, leaving his First Wizard to wonder why the king should, all of a sudden, be concerned about an animal he had always detested.

**oOoOo**

"I don't know where to find the stupid cat, father. Unlike you, I don't follow the little princeling everywhere he goes." Taralynn was brushing out her long brown curls, admiring the sheen the candlelight gave her hair. Despite her preoccupation with her own reflection, the girl couldn't keep the antipathy out of her voice.

Darken. Darken. **Darken**.

Everything was always about Darken.

When she had come to the palace to live with her father, Taralynn had hoped she would finally get a full measure of his attention, that after years of being ignored, she would have a father to dote on her.

Instead, almost as soon as they had passed through the gates, Father had become caught up in his duties to Lord Rahl.

She had accepted that. Everyone should strive to please Lord Rahl.

But Taralynn hadn't counted on the other distractions her father would use to avoid her company – the parties, the drinking, the women.

An endless stream of women - all,it seemed, more interesting to him than was she.

Taralynn had been eager to make her father proud, so when he had prepared a course of study for her, she was determined to be an exemplary student. But the experiment had been a dismal failure. Try as she might, Taralynn had no inclination for books, for dry boring D'Haran history, for the numbers which seemed to blur together in front of her eyes. She would always end up pushing the books away in defeat, often rambling off in search of her father, and then would become further distracted by the beautiful dresses and jewelry of Lord Rahl's concubines.

Once her father had commenced teaching Darken Rahl, whatever small amount of time he had once spared for her disappeared completely. When he wasn't with Darken, Father was talking about Darken, worrying about Darken, planning for Darken.

Sometimes Taralynn thought that her father wouldn't notice if she left and went back to her old village. But Mother didn't want her back. Erylin was married, with young children, and had no interest in having her domestic arrangements disrupted.

Anyway – leaving the palace was unthinkable now.

The People's Palace was the heart of the empire, the hub of the universe. The most powerful men and the loveliest women were drawn there like bees to honey. Everything that Taralynn wanted was here.

She would never leave.

Six months earlier, during the royal brat's birthday party, while her father was preoccupied with the silliness about Darken and the kitten, Taralynn had finally worked up enough courage to ask one of Lord Rahl's concubines to show her how to braid her hair. After that, the king's women vied for her favor. She had soon become a fixture in the women's quarters, where she finally received the attention she had always craved.

If Father had ever thought to take notice, he might have tried to stop her, so at first Taralynn was careful to keep her visits to the quarters a secret. But she soon learned to her chagrin that, as long as she wasn't underfoot, Father was never very concerned about her comings and goings.

He almost seemed relieved when her interest had shifted away from him, happy that she had found an interest to occupy her time.

The concubines, eager to curry favor with Lord Rahl's First Wizard, strived to out-do each other in dressing Taralynn, brushing and arranging her hair, showing her how to use henna and kohl to best advantage, describing the ways to attract and please a man. It never occurred to any of them that the eager student might one day best them at their own game.

It hadn't occurred to Taralynn until three months ago, when, upon the occasion of her eighteenth birthday, Lord Rahl had gazed at her with new eyes, noticing that she was far more than the gangly daughter of his First Wizard. That evening, he had made a point of singling her out, and later, when most of the guests, including Father, were either groggy from drink or too much food, Lord Rahl had pulled her into an alcove and laughingly demanded a birthday kiss from her.

A kiss that had been far more than a light peck on the lips.

From that day forward, the king had made a point of complimenting Taralynn at every opportunity, telling her how lovely she looked, how her dress flattered her coloring, how her wit was sharper than any woman in his Court. As their flirtation progressed, Lord Rahl had started to unburden the secrets of his heart to her – his loveless marriage to a woman who had never understood him, his loneliness, his longing for more children, especially for a son who would be truly worthy to rule.

How grateful he had been to have found the perfect woman in the form of the daughter of his dearest friend.

Panis had urged Taralynn to become his in every way, careful never to force the issue. It was just that it was so hard to wait, he had claimed, now that he had found his soul-mate, his queen, the mother of his son.

While Taralynn was exhilarated by Lord Rahl's constant declarations of devotion, it was the determination to prove she could give him an heir that led to her surrender one night in the garden. After that, the king made certain that her father was occupied during their evening trysts in the garden.

She might not be the wizard son her father had wanted, she might have no Gift, she might have little education, but Taralynn had a power just as potent, and she was determined to use it to her best advantage.

Clasping a heavy gold necklace around her throat , she took a moment to enjoy the way it added an extra glow to her complexion before rising to her feet and reaching for her cloak. She was late and Lord Rahl was not a patient man. "I have to leave now, Father. I'm sorry I couldn't be more helpful about the cat, but I really don't know where it is."

"Leave? Where are you going? It's almost time for dinner." Father gazed back at her in bafflement, seeming to see her for the first time in years. "Where did you get that necklace? I've never noticed it before."

_When did you grow up?_

The question gleamed in his eyes.

Taralynn sighed. "Lord Rahl gave it to me for my birthday, Father. Don't you remember?"

As a matter of fact, Father **hadn't** remembered her birthday, not until Lord Rahl had thrown her the party that had surprised Zedd as much as it had surprised her.

And while the gold chain was indeed a gift from the king, it had been given in exchange for the much greater gift she already carried for him – a son.

After Lord Rahl fastened the heavy links around her neck, he had assured her with more fervor than ever before of her value to him above all other women.

Her son – their son – not Darken, would be the future.

Nicholas Rahl would one day sit upon the throne of D'Hara.

**oOoOo**

Later that evening Taralynn slipped back into her chambers lost in a blissful haze. As always, she had employed every trick, every bit of advice given to her by Lord Rahl's most skilled courtesans, and, as always, she had pleased the king more than any woman he had ever bedded.

He had told her so, and she knew he would never lie, not to her, not to the woman he loved.

Lord Rahl intended to announce their betrothal within the week, and Taralynn was relieved that she wouldn't have to keep their secret much longer. She was already eight weeks gone with child, and would be showing soon. Up to now her father had been oblivious, but he wasn't blind.

As she dreamily shed her grass-stained dress, Taralynn tried not to dwell on the jarring sight that had met her eyes when she had first caught sight of her lover in the garden tonight.

She didn't want to think about the small creature she had glimpsed struggling in his grasp, dangling from the grip of those same hands that had later caressed her body.

Taralynn didn't want to remember hearing the snap before the animal had gone limp.

She had to make herself forget the way Lord Rahl had tossed the cat's still twitching body into the bushes with a careless shrug.

But most of all, she would deny any memory of his smile when he had then looked around and, acknowledging her presence, winked at her as if at an accomplice.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

"Zedd, Zedd, where are you?" The afternoon sun was throwing shadows across the floor when Darken flew into Zedd's chambers. "It's Eggy! We found her, and she's all -" Whatever else the boy was trying to say was lost in muffled sobs as the wizard knelt down and gathered the prince in his arms.

While Darken was being comforted, Matthew, one of Lord Rahl's retainers, trailed into the room, his face white as a sheet.

"What happened, Matthew? You look as if you've seen the Keeper." Zedd demanded, as Darken tried to regain his composure.

The guard took a deep breath and for a minute looked as if he were going to vomit. "It was the Prince's cat, Wizard. He's been looking for her for days, and we were out walking in the garden and… found her." The man gulped again. "The maggots had been at her and there wasn't much left. I tried to keep the boy from seeing it, but – " he shrugged helplessly.

As if summoned by Darken's distress, Lord Rahl ambled into the room, taking in the sight of his son's tear-streaked face. "Crying again, I see."

Zedd felt Darken's small body go rigid as the boy rubbed at his eyes, trying to wipe away the signs of his weakness. Panis made no move toward his son, but his expression was grim with accusation. "Don't think you can put on an act that will fool me, boy. Matthew told me about finding the cat. You thought you could get away with killing the poor little thing, didn't you? You thought that you could just hide it and nobody would ever find out."

Zedd's mouth went dry. Was it possible?

Darken shook his head in mute denial, unable to speak in the face of his father's denunciations.

"I can't believe Darken would hurt that animal. He loved her." Zedd forced the words out between his teeth, unable to forget the cold merciless eyes that had stared back at him out of Darken's face for those few moments on the night Panis had ordered the boy to break the kitten's neck.

"You're always making excuses for him, Zedd. Why don't you admit what he is?" Lord Rahl's face was red with fury, his fingers clenched as if he were imagining wrapping them around his son's neck.

"Panis, please. This isn't the time or place. We don't know what happened for certain." It was the first time Zedd had used Lord Rahl's given name in years.

"Your own daughter saw everything, Zedd. She told me all about it. Ask her - or are you afraid of the truth?" Panis looked over to where Taralynn hovered by the door to her dressing chamber and gestured for her to approach. Hesitantly, reluctantly, she obeyed.

"Tell your father what you saw last week, Taralynn." Lord Rahl's voice was soft as velvet, but it was not a request. "It's all right. He's my son, but I know what he's capable of."

Zedd's stomach churned at the way Panis looked at his daughter.

"It was night, my Lord. I'm not sure…- " the girl's voice trailed off, little more than a whisper. She looked like a deer frozen in the gaze of a predator.

"You told me what happened, now tell your father." Panis commanded, his tone brittle with impatience, his eyes piercing into her like shards of glass. Zedd bristled at the implicit threat in Rahl's voice.

"Stop it, Pans!" Zedd barked. "Don't speak to her like that." Taralynn shot him a glance of startled gratitude. "Sweeting, come here. Tell us what you saw?" he coaxed tenderly.

For a moment she wavered, seeming to wilt under the stares of Lord and Father, the two men who controlled her life. Then her gaze lit on Darken and her features hardened into a cold mask.

"I saw the prince," she pointed at Darken. "I was in the garden one evening last week, and saw Prince Darken holding the cat, it was trying to get away, and then I saw – then I heard –" she closed her eyes as if trying to block out the memory. "I **saw** Prince Darken break the cat's neck and throw her into the bushes."

"**That's a lie!** I didn't hurt her, and she's not – the cat. She's Eggy. She had a name." Darken yelled, glaring at his new accuser in stunned disbelief.

"Are you quite sure of what you saw, dear one?" Zedd's voice was gentle as he regarded his daughter. Taralynn's eyes met his and softened for a brief moment, but as they took in his protectiveness toward Darken, they narrowed into slits of bitterness.

"Yes, Father, I'm sure," she snapped. "At first I didn't say anything because I didn't want to get anyone into trouble, but I had to tell Lord Rahl the truth."

Panis turned back to Zedd, wreathed in smug satisfaction. "There – are you satisfied now, Wizard? You have heard it from your own daughter's lips. Shota warned you, your father warned you, and now your daughter tells you. What more do you need? When are you going to face the truth about …him?" He pointed at Darken, seemingly too disgusted to acknowledge their kinship.

**The truth. **

Zedd now saw the truth all too well.

It was staring him in the face, shattering every belief he had ever cherished about himself.

The truth he should have seen months ago.

Panis had seduced and bedded his daughter, the child that Zedd had failed to cherish. Instead, he had left her, alone and vulnerable, in Lord Rahl's path, as carelessly as he now knew Panis had thrown Darken's little cat into the bushes after breaking its neck.

And while Zedd had been careless and distracted, Panis had been watchful, waiting for the perfect chance to gain what he desired most.

A son – born of the two most powerful magical bloodlines in D'Hara.

A son not prophesized to be the doom of the world – or of his father.

A son more powerful than Carracticus, Zedd, or any Rahl in history.

A son who would make the boy born six years earlier an obstacle – not only potentially dangerous, but soon irrelevant.

Once Panis Rahl had that son, he would toss Taralynn aside without a second thought.

There was indeed a monster in the room.

But it was not Darken Rahl.

And perhaps it was not only Panis Rahl.

"I see everything now, my friend," Zedd's voice was even, emotionless. He could not afford to be careless any longer. "I should have seen it all along." He squeezed Darken's shoulder briefly before standing up, hoping the boy could sense the lie in his words.

"But," he continued, "I think it's important not to over-react. The boy is only six years of age. He can still change. It's not too late."

Panis sighed heavily, glancing quickly over at Taralynn, then at her belly. Zedd fought the urge to punch him in the gut. "He's too dangerous, Zedd. You know the prophecy. We can't allow it to happen."

They were talking about the prophecy in front of Darken as if he were a piece of furniture.

"I want the boy under lock and key until it can be decided what to do with him." Panis barked in a tone of command. "Egremont! It's time."

Zedd was still reeling at the rapidity of events as Captain Egremont marched into the room.

The entire little drama in his chambers had been carefully staged and planned by Panis. He had only been waiting for the right moment to spring the trap.

Even Taralynn looked a little shocked.

"Take my son to his rooms, bar all the windows, and put at least two guards at every entrance. I don't want him leaving his apartments for any reason. Is that clear?" Panis barked out orders, still refusing to meet his son's frightened eyes.

"Yes, Lord Rahl." Egremont clasped his fist to his chest in salute, then approached Darken, his large hand outstretched. "Come with me, boy." His voice was gruff but not ungentle.

Darken hunkered back against Zedd's legs, clinging to his robes. "What's happening? I'm Darken Rahl – you're not allowed to touch me." Egremont methodically pried the boy's fingers from the wizard's clothing as the child kept shouting. "Somebody stop him!. Zedd? Father? I didn't kill Eggy. I didn't. I promise I'll be good." Panis Rahl strolled over to the window, turning his back on his son's cries.

Zedd felt something crack in his chest. In a moment of weakness, he wondered if it might have been kinder for everyone if he had allowed Darken to die of the fever all those years ago.

He steeled himself against further doubt. There was no going back, only forward.

"Don't fight, Darken. Go with him. It will be all right." Zedd tried to force a reassurance he didn't feel into his voice. He held the boy's gaze with his own as Egremont half-dragged the boy into the hallway.

He hoped the child could read the message there.

_Trust me!_

As soon as Darken was taken, Lord Rahl turned away from the casement, the regret he was attempting to convey at odds with the triumph he couldn't conceal . "Zedd, my friend, I understand your disappointment in the boy. I've had to deal with it for years. But I have wonderful news that will make you forget all else." Flashing a feral grin, the king strode across the room to Taralyyn's side. Throwing his arm around her waist he pulled her flush against his side with the pride of total possession. She looked bewildered, as if events were still unfolding too quickly for her to comprehend.

"I have honored your daughter above all the women in my Court. She carries my son." Panis crowed, oblivious to Taralynn's gasp as his fingers bit into her arm. "Just think of it, Zedd, my old friend. Your grandson, Nicholas Rahl, will one day sit upon the throne of D'Hara, and, of course, you will teach him just as you taught me and as you….tried to teach Darken."

Zedd felt the magic rushing through his blood like a torrent, blinding him to all reason, urging him to rage and destruction. He now understood the lure of dark sorcery, to have the power to destroy your enemies with none of the compunction of morality. More than anything in creation he wanted to annihilate Panis Rahl from the face of the earth, but to give in to that urge was to start down a path from which there was no turning back.

Through the roaring in his ears, the wizard was vaguely aware of someone talking, but could not make out the words. Then, as he fought down the darkness, he heard Taralynn's voice.

"This is what I want, Father. I love him. I'm sorry to have kept this from you, but I'm proud to bear Lord Rahl's son."

Hopelessness followed rage, cooling Zedd's blood. His girl was still so naïve, not realizing that she was being led like a lamb to the slaughter.

"Dear one, listen to me. This man wants your son but he doesn't care about you. It's the power of your bloodline he wants, not you." He reached out to his daughter, entreating her, trying to make her see the truth behind the harshness of his words.

Taralynn bristled, her chin raised in defiance. "No, Father! That's a lie. Lord Rahl is the only man who loves me. You are the one who cares about bloodlines. If I had been a boy, if I had been Gifted, you would never have left me. I would have been important to you. But instead I was nothing. Now I'm going to give you a powerful grandson, a man who will be a wizard and a king. I thought that would make you proud, but I see now that nothing I do ever will."

Her voice broke, and for a moment Zedd was reminded of Darken's bewildered anger over why he could never please his father.

"I admit I failed you, Taralynn, and I beg your forgiveness. But you deserve far better than what you will suffer at the hands of this man. He will use you up and throw you away once you've served your purpose. Look what he's already done to his first born child." He was begging now, but his daughter already seemed lost to him, deaf to his warnings.

"Darken's evil, Father. You've seen that for yourself. What more proof do you need?" Taralynn's tone was dismissive. "Nicholas will be a far greater ruler than Darken could ever have been."

Dear Creator! Did the girl now believe her own lies? If Panis had that much control over her, then Zedd would never be able to get her away from the man.

"And what is to become of Darken, my old friend, once my daughter gives you a second son?" Zedd's tone was laced with bitterness as he glared at Panis.

"That's no longer your concern, Zedd. You can't stand in the way of prophecy." Panis was already heading toward the door, Taralynn in tow, clinging to his hand.

"What if the child's a girl, Panis? What if he or she is Pristinely Ungifted? Have you told my daughter what you will do then?" Zedd shouted after them, but the oaken door had already slammed shut, leaving him alone with his thoughts.

And his guilt.

He faced a terrible choice, but again, there was no turning back.

Taralynn, as young as she was, had made her choice, and to force her away from Panis, if it were even possible, would only increase her determination to thwart her father.

At least Panis might allow Taralynn to live after he broke her heart and spirit – as long as she didn't prove herself a nuisance.

But Zedd knew, as surely as night followed day, that Darken was already marked for death. Panis would never allow the older child stand in the way of the younger, more powerful heir.

One child was lost to him, at least for the present, yet the other might still be saved - **if **he could only come up with a plan. Panis would expect Zedd to come to Darken's aid, and no doubt had already placed magical barriers around the prince's chambers that even the wizard could not penetrate, passed down as they were through Rahl blood magic. Darken was too young to know the spell that could free him.

The most trusted elite of Lord Rahl's Dragon Corp might have access, but they had reached their position because of their fanatical devotion to their master.

Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander, Wizard of the First Order and the most powerful wielder of magic in D'Hara , was helpless to save a six-year old boy.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

The answer, when it came, arrived in such an unexpected guise that Zedd thought that the Creator's intervention must have been at work.

Almost forty-eight hours had passed since Zedd had been left to his own devices. He had tried strolling to Darken's chambers as if he were expected, only to be met by four grim-faced officers at the end of the corridor. The wizard could not get within twenty yards of the prince's rooms.

Refusing to admit defeat, he strode grimly to the great palace library in the dim hope of finding an ancient scroll of Rahl magic which could be used to break through the barriers. Pouring over tome after tome, he lost track of time, and as the candle guttered out, he slumped forward over the table in a troubled sleep .

He was roused by a calloused hand gripping him by the shoulder. "Wizard – wake up. There isn't much time."

"Huh! What? Who's there?" Zedd jolted upright in his chair, bleary-eyed, knocking over the brass candleholder, which was only prevented from clattering to the marble floor by the same hand that had shaken him awake.

"Quiet now! No noise." It was a familiar voice, a voice accustomed to giving orders and having them obeyed.

As Zedd's vision cleared and his eyes adjusted to the dark, he could make out the form, then the face.

Captain Egremont had pulled up a chair next to him, and was leaning in so close that Zedd could feel his breath against his cheek.

"I didn't think I would ever find you," the captain growled. "This place is too damn big and full of hidey-holes. I always like to have a clear view of my surroundings."

For the life of him, Zedd couldn't grasp why Egremont would be searching him out. Gruff and inscrutable, the captain was almost always at Lord Rahl's right hand, impeccably loyal.

"What do you want, captain? As you can see, I was doing some research and fell asleep."

Egremont wasn't interested in Zedd's study habits.

"Lord Rahl is an impatient man," he declared without preamble, his face as expressionless as always. "When he orders something done, he expects results."

A quiver of unease crept up Zedd's spine as he began to suspect what the captain might be hinting at. "What is it that Lord Rahl wants done so quickly?" he asked, taking a gamble. "I know he's worried about the prophecy – "

"Not just the prophecy, Wizard. Lord Rahl is not pleased with the son he already has, and wants a new one. He desires a son he believes will give him complete control of the three territories and who carries no weight of prophecy." The captain was impatient to get to the heart of the matter. "Lord Rahl is not willing to wait for the birth of your grandchild. I have my orders directly from the king. Darken Rahl is to be killed tonight."

Zedd felt a great weight pressing against his ribs. He had known Darken's fate was grim, but had assumed that Panis would wait until Taralynn had birthed a healthy male heir before harming his oldest child.

"He doesn't want his hands on the deed, says he doesn't need to see the body, says it would be better if there was no trace. He trusts me to carry out his wishes to the letter." The captain's voice carried no inflection, but Zedd thought he saw a flicker of something close to contempt in the man's eyes. "Lord Rahl knows that if he orders me to kill his son, then I will kill his son." Egremont's disgust was now unmistakable.

"And – " Zedd urged, hope springing alive in his heart.

"I don't murder children," Captain Egremont stated flatly. "Certainly not children who name their pets after me." A ghost of a smile touched his lips, than vanished so quickly that Zedd thought he must have imagined it.

Egremont fixed his eyes on Zedd's, by sheer strength of will commanding him to listen. "I will have no part in harming the boy, but Darken Rahl **will **disappear tonight and can never be seen or mentioned again. It must be as if he never existed." The soldier raised a brow as he studied Zedd. "Lord Rahl has become quite suspicious of you, Wizard. I don't think he'll be too disappointed that I had to kill you when you tried to protect the boy. Do you understand me?"

Zedd understood. He tried to push thoughts of his daughter aside to deal with the immediacy of the danger.

"Then come, Wizard. There are a few men who put loyalty to me about their loyalty to Lord Rahl. We will get you through the barriers and on your way, but the rest is up to you."

**oOoOo**

Darken barely stirred as Zedd struggled to pull the unfamiliar clothing over the small body. He had already changed into the rough woolens provided by Egremont

The captain shoved their former attire under Zedd's robes. "Nothing can be left behind. You'll have to burn these when you put enough distance behind you." He thrust another packet toward the wizard.  
>"Take this– you'll need food for the early days of your journey. My wife is a fine cook." he muttered gruffly, refusing to acknowledge Zedd's dazed look of gratitude.<p>

As the trio crept down the back stairs and through myriad circuitous passageways and tunnels Zedd hadn't known existed, Egremont continued giving instructions. "Stay low, travel only at night, keep to the back roads, stay in the woods whenever you can. Your face and that of the young prince are known in these parts," The captain advised as they emerged into a clearing beyond the city gates. Zedd's legs were aching with fatigue. They must have already trod several miles.

"This is as far as I can go," the captain's voice was hushed. "You're on your own now." Reaching into his cloak, Egremont withdrew a small leather pouch which he proffered to Zedd. "You will need this – I came upon it in your chambers when I was searching for you." His gaze was unwavering as it held the Wizard's. "You can't get through the boundary without it."

Zedd's fingers closed around the small packet, feeling the familiar weight and hardness of the night stone. The captain must have known exactly where to look for the magical artifact, the only object, with the exception of a nightwisp, that could get them through the boundary between the Midlands and Westland.

"How did you - ?" he began, but Egremont cut him off harshly.

"Don't look so shocked, Wizard. You know as well as I do that the prince will be no safer in the Midlands than he is in D'Hara. The Mother Confessor in Aydindril opposes D'Hara, and is well aware of the prophecy concerning Darken Rahl. The most clever disguise in the world won't protect him from the eyes of a Confessor."

"I don't know how I can ever thank you." Zedd wished there was something he could give the man in return for his help, but he didn't even own the clothes on his back.

Just then Darken stirred in Zedd's arms, still half-asleep. Peering over Zedd's shoulder, he recognized the captain. "Eggy!" he croaked drowsily, the corner of his mouth quirking up in a lop-sided grin. Gazing around the clearing and up at the stars in wonder, he queried, "Where am I? Is this a dream?"

Before Zedd could reply, Egremont approached his prince one last time, pulling the hood up over the boy's head and face. Then backing away, the man sunk to one knee and solemnly clasped his fist over his heart. "Lord Rahl." With those parting words, he rose to his feet and disappeared into the dark.

"Where are we, Zedd? Father will be angry if I don't get back soon." Darken was squirming to get down. The Wizard lowered the boy to the ground and knelt down in front of him, speaking with quiet authority. "We're going on an adventure, Darken, like in the stories you've always heard about. But it's a secret adventure. Nobody can even know who we are or where we came from. Are you brave enough to do that?"

Intrigued, Darken nodded vigorously. "Does this mean I won't be seeing Father again?"

"Never again," Zedd assured him.

"Good," Darken sighed with relief. "When do we start?"

**oOoOo**

Wizard and boy traveled for weeks, crossing the boundary into the Midlands without interference, careful, when trekking through that territory of the Confessors, to avoid any villages where the women in white were rumored to be sitting in judgment.

They had a close call once, waking up in an abandoned barn to find that a confessor had arrived only that morning to hold court. Worried that he might be recognized, knowing that he had already put the spell off for too long, Zedd made the final break with his past. As Darken looked on, fascinated, the wizard closed his eyes, murmured a brief incantation, and passed his hand over his face, transforming the youthful visage into that of a much older man.

"You're all gray and scraggly, Zedd!" Darken snorted, wiping his nose with a grubby hand.

"You might as well get used to it, boy," Zedd retorted with a rueful smile. "I can't say I'm happy about losing my irresistible good looks, but this is how it has to be from now on."

"But you're still **you**, right?" Darken asked, looking suddenly fearful that the only security in his life might be slipping away.

"Always!" Zedd vowed , tousling the boy's tangled mat of dark hair. "I haven't changed, and I'll never leave you."

It would not have been an easy journey for the most experienced traveller, and they had both lived lives where every material need had been provided for without question. But as the days, weeks and months wore on, and they became accustomed to the backroads, the open air and the unexpected kindnesses of open-handed strangers, their muscles hardened, feet calloused and endurance grew.

Zedd had been surprised and gratified by the ease with which Darken adapted to his new existence. The boy still struggled with Zedd's new name, but had seemed to shed his own name, as rare as it was ill-omened, and his old life, with the resiliency of youth.

But for the wizard, who had once been honored, rich, important, the Zorander name known far and wide, the adjustment to itinerant fugitive was a constant struggle. Now the only family left to him was the small boy trudging by his side. His daughter's plight pulled at his heart, but until he found refuge for the child he couldn't permit himself the luxury of grief.

Zedd was intent on putting as much distance between them and D'Hara as possible, but they couldn't keep walking forever. He longed for the Wizard's Keep in Aydindril, but Egremont was right, he could never risk taking the boy there. The Palace of the Prophets would be a sweet oasis but, again, the child born under a dark prophecy would not be welcomed or protected by the Sisters of the Light.

The only choice was to cross the boundary into Westland. Once there, in a land devoid of magic even while enjoying its protection, they would hopefully find shelter. Zedd had no idea how he was going to provide for them once they arrived. He possessed no practical skills in a society where the only craft he knew had no value or use, but his strength and intelligence had kept them alive this long, He was sure some opportunity would present itself.

He was a man of many talents.

The night before they crossed the boundary, after they had chatted about what the morrow would bring, Zedd quizzed the boy one last time.

"Who is Darken Rahl?" he asked.

"I never know how to answer that," the boy once called Darken Rahl sighed. "Am I supposed to not even know about him?"

"Six-year old boys, even princes, aren't generally known beyond the borders of their own land, especially to other six-year old boys," Zedd admonished gravely. "I doubt that a boy of Westland would be concerned about what was going on in D'Hara, if he'd even heard of it."

"Then I don't know who he is," the boy shrugged.

"And who are **you**, boy?" the wizard asked.

"Richard. My mother died when I was born, but she wanted to name me Richard." The boy recited, smiling. Zedd had told him about his mother during their journey. "I like Richard better than Darken anyway. It's a happier name. Don't you think so, Zedd?"

"And who am I?" Zedd asked. This was always the hardest question – for both of them.

"Joseph – your name is Joseph, Ze -, Joseph." The boy flushed under Joseph's frown. Richard couldn't afford to make any mistakes or the man he used to call father would find them. There were other people who knew about the prophecy, people who would hate him if they discovered that he had once been that boy he barely remembered. He and Joseph would have to protect each other.

"Never forget my name, Richard, and never call me Wizard. If anybody finds out who I am, they'll find you. Darken Rahl and First Wizard Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander are dead and must always remain so. Bury them in the ground right here where we lay tonight and never think on their names again. Will you promise me that?

"I promise, Joseph." Richard vowed. "But what are our family names? You've never told me."

Joseph regarded the small quizzical face upturned to his, the clear blue eyes, and the dark hair - fortuitously so unlike his father's.

The face of a dead prince who would never be king.

_And **what** am I?_ Joseph asked himself - a disowned son and brother. A man deprived of the only livelihood he ever knew.

_A prince and a wizard , disappearing into the void_, Joseph mused, suddenly pierced with sorrow, for the boy, for himself, for the daughter he could only mourn in his heart, the grandchild he would never see.

Their old selves were dead, their new identities formed out of the ether.

"Cypher" The Wizard declared firmly. "Our names are Richard and Joseph Cypher."

"Cypher" The boy said the name as if tasting it, rolling it around with his tongue. Then he nodded in approval. "It's easy to remember."

"Joseph, are you Richard's father?" Joseph started at the simple query, shaken to his core. Neither Darken nor Richard had ever asked him this before, but he somehow realized now that this was the most important question in the world.

"Do you want me to be?" Joseph's throat tightened as he blinked back the moisture in his eyes.

"Yes!" Richard whispered without the slightest hesitation. "I used to pretend that you were my real father."

Joseph didn't answer at first, suddenly finding it terribly important to fiddle with heating the water for their supper. After he'd had a chance to wipe the cinder out of his eyes, he finally spoke in a voice hoarse from the smoke . "Then that's how it will be."

**oOoOo**

There was no drama the next day when father and son crossed the boundary into Westland, the road was just as dusty and the sun was just as warm as anywhere else in the world, but there seemed to be a different scent in the air.

They both seemed to know what it meant.

Joseph and Richard Cypher, father and son, for so long wanderers in a strange land, had come home.

END


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